Library Books
Resource Key
LEVEL 1
brief, basic information laid out in an easy-to-read format. May use informal language. (Includes most news articles)
LEVEL 2
provides additional background information and further reading. Introduces some subject-specific language.
LEVEL 3
lengthy, detailed information. Frequently uses technical/subject-specific language. (Includes most analytical articles)
Natural Disasters Gallery
Natural Disasters
The term natural disaster usually refers to a catastrophic event resulting from a natural process, such as a storm or a volcanic eruption. Natural disasters can severely impact human society, causing extensive fatalities and injuries. Destruction of homes and businesses bring both a personal and an economic toll.
In a given year there may be several hundred large-scale disasters worldwide, causing thousands of human deaths and affecting millions of people overall. The likelihood of some types of disasters can be forecast using modern technology to monitor weather and related conditions. However, the precise location and onset of most disasters cannot be predicted.
Some natural disasters may result from long-term changes in environmental conditions. For example, many scientists associate global warming with extreme weather conditions; they predict an increase in prolonged droughts and severe weather events such as hurricanes and large-scale flooding.
In addition to their effects on human life, natural disasters can severely impact ecosystems, causing drastic changes to soil, space, and water, and thus affecting all living things that depend on these resources. Landslides and flooding can drastically change environmental conditions, leading to increased rates of erosion and causing other dramatic changes to land and water. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and wildfires can literally change landscapes, causing long-term changes to habitats with cascading effects on wildlife. Species that cannot adapt to sudden changes may need to migrate to other areas or face extinction. In some cases, natural areas affected by a disaster can rebound in time; the natural process of succession occurs in areas that have been rendered effectively barren by lava flows and similar events.
Although natural disasters cannot be eliminated, in many cases there are steps that can be taken to lessen their impact. Some natural hazards are preceded by conditions that can be used to predict an imminent event. For example, improvements in storm detection and tracking allow for prediction of impending storms and hurricanes. With enough advanced warning, people can prepare for these types of events by stocking up on supplies, securing windows, taking shelter, or even evacuating the area. Most communities offer guidelines on preparing for disasters that are likely to occur in their local or regional areas. However, some events, such as earthquakes, cannot be predicted reliably, though steps can be taken to minimize their impact should they occur. (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2015)
Britannica Links
- Natural Disaster The term natural disaster usually refers to a catastrophic event resulting from a natural process, such as a storm or a volcanic eruption. Natural disasters can severely impact human society, causing extensive fatalities and injuries. Destruction of homes and businesses bring both a personal and an economic toll.
- Aid Agency An aid agency is an organization that provides money or assistance to people who have been affected by natural disaster, war, economic upheaval, or other conditions that prevent self-sufficiency. Aid agencies may be run by governments or by independent bodies called nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). Some aid agencies are small and operate in their local area, while others—such as the Red Cross—are worldwide organizations that distribute help to millions of people.
- Storm A storm is simply a disturbed state of the atmosphere. The term strongly implies destructive or unpleasant weather conditions characterized by strong winds, heavy rain, snow, sleet, hail, lightning, or a combination of these occurrences. Each type of storm follows a particular life cycle and occurs in specific seasons when atmospheric conditions are right for its creation.
- Weather The weather concerns everyone and has some effect on nearly every human activity. It occurs within the atmosphere, the mixture of gases that completely envelops Earth. Weather is defined as the momentary, day-to-day state of the atmosphere over any place on Earth’s surface. Climate, on the other hand, refers to weather averaged over a long period. The basic atmospheric conditions that make up the weather include precipitation, humidity, temperature, pressure, cloudiness, and wind.
Definitions
- Natural Disasterany event or force of nature that has catastrophic consequences, such as avalanche, earthquake, flood, forest fire, hurricane, lightning, tornado, tsunami, and volcanic eruption
- Tsunamian unusually large sea wave produced by a seaquake or undersea volcanic eruption.
- Bushfirean uncontrolled fire in the trees and bushes of scrubland.
- Avalanchea large mass of snow, ice, etc., detached from a mountain slope and sliding or falling suddenly downward.
- Landslidethe downward falling or sliding of a mass of soil, detritus, or rock on or from a steep slope.
- Hurricanea violent, tropical, cyclonic storm of the western North Atlantic, having wind speeds of or in excess of 72 miles per hour (32 m/sec).
Compare tropical cyclone, typhoon. - Earthquakea series of vibrations induced in the earth's crust by the abrupt rupture and rebound of rocks in which elastic strain has been slowly accumulating.
- Volcanoa vent in the earth's crust through which lava, steam, ashes, etc., are expelled, either continuously or at irregular intervals.
- Flooda great flowing or overflowing of water, especially over land not usually submerged.
- Tornadoa localized, violently destructive windstorm occurring over land, especially in the Middle West, and characterized by a long, funnel-shaped cloud extending toward the ground and made visible by condensation and debris.